Synopsis

This fifth volume in Natsuhiko Kyogoku's "Ghost Stories from About Town" series, set at the end of the Edo period (1603?1867), contains seven linked stories in which the stage has moved to Japan's western "second city" of Osaka. The central character is ladies' man Rinzo. While presenting himself as a stationer to the world at large, he also works behind the scenes for Nizo Ichimonjiya, who is Osaka's largest publisher as well as an underworld boss. To those in the know, Ichimonjiya is the fixer to whom they can go when all else fails. He can make their problems disappear, wipe away their crimes, expunge their pasts, arrange for people to be rubbed out, and even bring the dead back to life. But no benevolent godfather, he extracts his pound of flesh. In a manner reminiscent of the film Ghostbusters, Rinzo's band of rogues go nosing about where spectral activity has been reported?or at times even contrive such activity themselves?and expose the hidden crimes of someone or other involved. A swordsmith reports that a wolf has traded places with his beloved wife. Backstage at the puppet theater some puppets get into a sword fight. People who died in an epidemic ten years before rise again like zombies. The grandson of a sake brewer who fell into the river and was swept away in a violent storm returns safely five years later after being raised by tanuki. Rinzo and company take the incredible stories being told to heart, and set about solving the mystery of what really happened in each case. Delving deep into the deeds of men driven by love and hate, each story leaves readers gasping in surprise as the specters get their comeuppance.

About the Author

Natsuhiko Kyogoku(1963–) cut a stylish figure in 1994 when he made his public literary debut wearing a kimono and black leather gloves, his long hair tinted with streaks of brown—a look he maintains today. After working as an art designer at an ad agency he struck out on his own, launching a design firm. His debut novel, a massive work he says he wrote "to kill time," was snapped up immediately by the publisher whose editorial department he sent it to. The book was The Summer of the Ubume (tr. 2009), which became the first volume in the long-running Hyakki yagyo (Night Journey of a Hundred Demons) series of novels and linked stories featuring the used-book seller and occultist Kyogokudo. The second work in this series, Moryo no hako (Box of Goblins), won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1996. He continued to win prizes after this, including the Yamamoto Shugoro Prize in 2003 for Nozoki Koheiji (Peeping Koheiji), the Naoki Prize in 2004 for Nochi no kosetsu hyaku monogatari (Still More Ghost Stories from About Town), and the Shibata Renzaburo Award in 2011 for Nishi no kosetsu hyaku monogatari (Ghost Stories from About Town in the West), yet another sequel in Kyogoku's ghost story series. In 2010 Kyogoku released Shineba ii no ni (Better Off Dead) in both print and electronic form, becoming one of the first Japanese authors to embrace ebooks. He unabashedly describes himself as "a journeyman writer of popular entertainments."www.osawa-office.co.jp/write/kyogoku.htmlBooks by this author